OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's settlement, by the numbers

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to dissolve and be replaced with a new company operating in the public interest under the settlement of thousands of lawsuits that goes into effect Friday. It’s among the largest in a series of settlements over the toll of opioids over the past several years. It’s particularly prominent because some people pin the nation’s opioid epidemic to the sales efforts behind OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller that became available in 1996. Here’s a look at the epidemic and settlement by the numbers. 900,000 More than this many deaths in the U.S. have been connected to opioid overdose since 1999, according to federal data. The epidemic’s death toll was first driven by prescription opioids, then heroin, and most recently - and most deadly - fentanyl. $7.4 billion The minimum money provided by the Purdue settlement. Most of it - at least $6.5 billion - is to come from members of the Sackler family who owned the company. They’ve also given up any interest in the drugmaker, which family members stopped controlling before it filed for bankruptcy in 2019. As part of the settlement, Purdue is being replaced by Knoa Pharma, with a board appointed by